Following our wonderful and over indulgent breakfast (which I am thoroughly looking forward to again, in about 20 minutes) we set off down the road… passing some high street shops that looked well our of place along the dirty, dusty and noisy road and boarded the Delhi Metro.
The Delhi Metro was not as expected – it was clean, efficient and the passengers even queued to board the train. Nothing like the Melbourne Metro.
Upon reaching our destination at Chandin Chowk in Old Delhi – the site of the famous Red Fort. Again, we weaved through the dirty, dusty and noisy roads to reach our destination only to discover it was closed. Well, that’s what the toute said anyway. We all didn’t believe him (that was toute trick number one in the Lonely Planet guide). So we went for a walk to the next entrance, where we were promptly told that the Red Fort was closed and would we like a rickshaw ride elsewhere. Again, we didn’t believe him – so we continued walking, until we reached a third entrance, looking a lot more promising given the tourist busses and cars in the parking lot. Unfortunately the Ricky Ponting fan/security guard (not a toute) advised us that the Red Fort is indeed closed due to the Republic Day preparations where the president will be delivering his speech from the Red Fort on the 26th of January. Damn – 3KM later down a dirty road, the first toute was right.
We decided that since we had made it over half way around the closed Red Fort we may as well continue and do the full circumference…. gotta run, I’m late for breakfast – will finish the rest later… [preview] picture Tippi Hendron screaming and shoeing birds away….
